Hamas

Spotlight on Terrorism: Hezbollah and Lebanon (December 22-29, 2025)

The IDF continued its activity to enforce the ceasefire agreement and to prevent Hezbollah’s renewed military buildup, and struck targets in south Lebanon and in the northern Beqa'a Valley, including Radwan Force training facilities and launch sites. The forces eliminated four Hezbollah operatives, one of them a soldier on active duty in the Lebanese army, and a terrorist operative in the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; Hezbollah secretary general Na’im Qassem said they were not afraid of a new war and accused the Lebanese government of making "free concessions" without Israel's fulfilling its commitments under the ceasefire agreement; Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he hoped the "cloud of war" was receding from Lebanon, after allegedly receiving American guarantees that Israel would not launch a new large-scale campaign; European countries are reportedly working to maintain a presence of their forces in south Lebanon to assist the Lebanese army after the end of UNIFIL’s mandate; Given the [alleged] completion of the first phase of Hezbollah’s disarmament south of the Litani River in accordance with the declaration from the Lebanese government, and Hezbollah’s opposition to further surrender of weapons, it was reported that the Lebanese government had still not made a decision regarding the transition to the second phase of demilitarizing the area between the Litani and Awali Rivers, and that the army commander would not give an order to collect weapons, citing a threat to civil peace in the country; Hezbollah is having difficulty financing housing allowances for tens of thousands of displaced families among its supporters following the intensified blockade of its funding sources. Read more...

The Doctrine of Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, Hamas’ “Expert on Jewish Affairs”

Antisemitism has been at the core of Hamas' ideology since its establishment in 1988, reflected both in the Hamas Charter (1988) and in the movement's education system; One of the leading representatives of Hamas' antisemitism is Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, one of the movement's founders and its senior spokesmen, who is Hamas' self-styled "expert on Jewish affairs." Over the years, he has referred to the Jews in his writings and statements using antisemitic motifs to justify the need to expel the Jews from "Palestine."; The book Hatred of the Jews – A Historical Legacy, which al-Zahar published in 2020 and copies of which were found by IDF forces during the war in the Gaza Strip, summarizes the core elements of his antisemitic doctrine. He described the Jews as a base, greedy, immoral, cruel, corrupt and treacherous, using blood libels and conspiracies based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion; Al-Zahar also justified the Holocaust, while claiming that close ties existed between Nazi Germany and the "Zionists," stemming from their "identical interests."; Since Hamas is aware that making antisemitic remarks harms it in the international arena, the movement seeks to downplay its views when dealing with foreigners, especially Western foreigners. A document the IDF brought back from the Gaza Strip had instructions for the "Palestinian spokesperson in the world," one of which was a prohibition against the use of anti-Jewish expressions and an emphasis on the struggle against the "Zionist occupier" and not against Judaism or the Jews; Despite the attempt to market a different face to the international community, the doctrine presented by Mahmoud al-Zahar over the years, and published only in Arabic, is evidence of the Hamas leadership's antisemitism. It dehumanizes Jews and provided inspiration for the atrocities committed during the Hamas terrorist attack and massacre on October 7, 2023. Read more...

How Hamas perceived Israel’s rounds of deterrence, according to a document found in the Gaza Strip

A document prepared by the center for military and strategic studies of Hamas' military wing, dated September 9, 2023, which was brought back from the Gaza Strip by the IDF during the war, analyzed Israeli policy regarding the rounds of fighting in the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized control in 2006; According to the document, for many years Israel relied on a strategy of preemptive strike, but the strengthening of the "resistance" movements led by Hamas and Hezbollah, which could obstruct Israeli capabilities, led Israel to shift to short rounds of fighting of limited intensity; In the assessment of the document's authors, since Israel failed to achieve its objectives in Operation Cast Lead, foremost of which was overthrowing Hamas rule, it moved to presenting vague objectives alongside a focus on managing the conflict and preserving deterrence, with the objective of weakening Hamas without defeating it; Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021 is defined as a formative event in which Hamas deviated from the pattern of the previous rounds by linking the Gaza Strip to events in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and by rousing Israeli Arabs to "resistance."; In the authors' assessment, Israel did not abandon the idea of a preemptive strike, particularly given the failure of Operation Guardian of the Walls, but was not in a position to build a new equation of deterrence. Therefore, it focused on conflict management, risk management and neutralizing threats. Accordingly, the recommendation to the Hamas leadership was to prepare for a new opening strike which would trigger another round of fighting, but also to initiate an unexpected confrontation that would break the recurring pattern and make Israel's leadership uncertain; In ITIC assessment, the study is part of the effort by Hamas' intelligence apparatuses to provide the movement's top decision-makers with a full strategic understanding of Israel's perception and conduct, at a time when they were in the final stages of planning the decisive attack against Israel. The picture emerging from the study, according to which Israel is not interested in overthrowing Hamas rule and is focused on limited rounds with known outcomes, together with the recommendation by the document's authors to act in an unexpected manner, confirmed al-Sinwar and Deif's confidence that the attack and massacre would be successful, and which were carried out on October 7, 2023, less than a month after the document was written. Read more...

Spotlight on Iran and the Shiite Axis (December 17-24, 2025)

The Iranian foreign minister stressed Iran’s opposition to a two-state solution to the Palestinian problem; Senior Iranian officials continued to express opposition to Hezbollah’s disarmament; Iran’s ambassador to the UN said at a Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria that the Syrian residents’ “resistance” to Israel’s “aggression” exposes the inevitable consequences of an “ongoing occupation.”; Iran and Iraq have reached an agreement on the opening of a new border crossing between the two countries.; Several pro-Iranian militias in Iraq expressed willingness to relinquish their weapons, but the major militias clarified that the issue is not open for negotiation. It is assessed that the change in the militias’ position stems from a desire to integrate into a new government and in light of warnings of possible Israeli attacks; The Islamic Resistance Front in Syria announced the death of its leader, without specifying the circumstances. Read more...

Spotlight on Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (December 16-23, 2025)

IDF forces continued operating in the areas of the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip and eliminated militants who posed a threat. An IDF soldier was wounded by a stray bullet; An initiative of experts on hunger determined that no area in the Gaza Strip was "famine-stricken," but warned that 77% of the population was suffering from food insecurity. The Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories accused the report of being biased and based on partial data; Hamas security forces announced the closing of the window for "collaborators" to surrender and threatened to use force against networks of collaborators with Israel; The organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla announced that they would launch a new and larger flotilla to the Gaza Strip in the spring of 2026; A Hamas delegation met with the head of Turkish intelligence to discuss the continuation of negotiations on the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. Representatives of the mediating countries called on all parties to meet their commitments and expressed support for the establishment of a Peace Council; The Palestinian terrorist organizations and the Fatah movement expressed anger with the Palestinian Authority over its suspension of the payments to the families of the shaheeds, the wounded and the prisoners. Read more...

Spotlight on Terrorism: Hezbollah and Lebanon (December 15-22, 2025)

Overview[1] The IDF continued attacking Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon to enforce the ceasefire agreement, which prohibited the organization’s presence south of the Litani. The IDF reported that in the year since the ceasefire, more than 370 terrorist operatives, most of them from Hezbollah, had been eliminated and there had been approximately 1,200 targeted ground Read more...

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